Cuomo pushes to make shared services panels permanent

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, pictured here with North Country lawmakers in April in Lake Placid, wants to make shared service panels permanent.

ALBANY | With the state facing looming budget shortfalls and expected passage of a tax reform bill poised to erode tax breaks for some New Yorkers, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is proposing making the state’s shared services initiative permanent.

Cuomo made the announcement on Monday in a conference call with reporters.

The governor has held regular briefings to excoriate the tax bill, which he said is akin to “economic civil war” because it penalizes high tax states like New York by capping the state and local property deduction at $10,000.

Cuomo said this would lead to an effective property tax hike of 20 percent for 725,000 homeowners across the state.

“It’s an economic dagger directed at this state,” he said.

While local governments have informally hashed out a number of agreements over the years, counties across the state were required this year to formally convene panels to explore efficiencies, a process that resulted in $200 million in savings from 34 counties, roughly half of those in the state, Cuomo said.

“So even though it's hard, and it's politically difficult because everybody wants their own political fiefdom and this says fiefdoms should cooperate, it worked,” Cuomo said.

As part of the initiative, the governor said he’d allocate $225 million in state funding to match proposals crafted by local governments to find savings.

Cuomo said he will also propose that $125 million in annual state funding for local government performance aid will now be conditional on the continuation of the panels.

The funds cover a number of local programs, including village dissolutions, sewer projects, and school mergers, said Essex County Manager Dan Palmer.

“I am fairly certain that is what he is referring to and truthfully to me, it just represents a different process for applying for the same funding,” Palmer said.

E.J. McMahon, research director of the Empire Center, called the proposal “symbolic and unimpressive, as this year’s shared services exercise demonstrated.”

“The savings were minimal drops in the bucket, and it won’t get much better from there,” McMahon said in an email. “Our taxes aren’t high because of local government duplication, overlap, or failure to share services. In fact, they are high mainly because salaries and staffing levels are high, especially in school districts and downstate suburban police departments.”

McMahon said governor insists on “spinning a false narrative” about local governments as a distraction from the main problem, which he said is the state’s failure to rein in mandates such as the Triborough amendment, which pertains to labor agreements, and the binding arbitration law for police and firefighters, which make it difficult to permanently restructure personnel costs.

Cuomo also touted his property tax relief program, which he said has led to a $3.2 billion savings to homeowners in four years.

The average check this year was $380, according to this office, and benefitted 2.6 million homeowners.

The formal statement announcing the proposal from the governor’s office contained a long list of quotes from county officials, including those in Clinton, Franklin and Warren counties.

“This plan will lead to a real cost savings for many, and I thank Governor Cuomo for his commitment to the hardworking families of New York,” said Clinton County Legislature Chairman Harry McManus.

But Essex County was more circumspect.

Essex County Vice Chairman Shaun Gillilland said, "Reducing the tax load on New Yorkers should be a team sport. Albany must cut too."

Counties and municipalities in the North Country have been sharing and consolidating services for years as a matter of necessity — not convenience, he said.

As such, Essex County has one of the lowest tax rates in the state.

"Unfunded state mandates continue to flow out of Albany unabated like the Hudson River," he said. "If Albany is serious about consolidation, then they should actually put teeth behind it and order school districts, fire districts and municipalities to do it — not just blame upstate for New York being in the top tier of highest taxed states in the country."

Moriah Supervisor Tom Scozzafava called the most recent proposal "confusing."

“Most municipalities already share a number of services and we get absolutely no credit for that unless it’s something new," he said. “But it’s a reach to find something new.”

Scozzafava oversaw the dissolution of the Village of Port Henry in March.

“It was painful and it was like an exorcism,” he said. “The State of New York makes it extremely difficult to obtain these shared services and efficiencies. Every time we turned around, there was another hurdle placed in front of us.”

“I’m a firm believer in simplicity, and this was not simple to do."

Scozzafava said he supports the governor and his efforts to reduce property taxes.

But true reform should strike deeper, he said, and should include whittling down which services are funded through the tax rolls — including fire and highway departments.

“To get there, there’s got to be some changes in Albany to make the road easier to go down," he said.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-Willsboro) also joined the fray on Monday, saying while capping the state and local deduction at $10,000 will hurt state taxpayers, the state should share some of the blame.

“Due to Albany's failed leadership and inability to rein in spending, New York is one of the highest taxed states in the country, and families here rely on this important deduction to make ends meet,” Stefanik said in a statement. “Failure to maintain SALT could lead to more families leaving our region.”

Cuomo shot back.

“The representative should work with her local governments to reduce property taxes,” he said. “She should look in her own backyard."

“Tell her to get our $48 billion back,” he said, referring to the surplus amount the state sends to the federal government annually.